Soldiers of Love
by TalysAlankil
Summary: With the Prophecy of the Seven a few years in the past, Eros makes Jason an offer to help him finally overcome Juno's tampering with his memories—with an agenda of his own. Just as Jason begins to identify the feelings he's been compelled to ignore for years, Nico is issued his own challenge by the God of Love, and Jason is dragged into it.
1. Act One

Olympus, Jason decided, wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Maybe he was a little resentful. The place had a primordial beauty, with Annabeth's stylized additions building upon what was already there—not that Jason had much of a comparison point. He had never been allowed up here until he had taken up the charge of _pontifex maximus_ , and even then, he could only come here when his duties absolutely required it. Certainly not to visit his father or stepmother-slash-protector. They would never even meet him when he came.

Okay, maybe he was more than a little resentful.

In his defense, he had been frustrated before coming here. After tracking a minor nature spirit all the way to Cupid's palace, it had turned out that Cupid himself was visiting on Olympus, forcing him to return all the way back to New York City—the very place he had started.

It took some investigating to find someone who could point him to Cupid's location—one of the many halls in Olympus, used by gods for private meetings or small gatherings. Jason wondered which it would be, but the voices he overheard through the hall's gates gave him the answer.

"Don't you think it's time you released your hold on him? It's been three years!" Cupid's voice—forever seared in Jason's memory from their first and only encounter. He shuddered by reflex at the sound.

The second voice surprised him more. "I don't see why I should." It was Juno, her voice more familiar. "He was given to me from birth by my husband."

They had to be talking about him—unless Jupiter had had another son nobody knew about.

"So you will put your ideals above the best opportunity for such a union that Olympus has ever seen? Such a queen you are, Juno."

"Perhaps I should remind you the respect I am owed, _as queen_ ," Juno hissed. "It seems you've spent too long alone in your palace."

"Yet I apparently learned more about politics than you did."

"Jupiter fully agrees with me on this matter."

"And what does that say about the two of you?" Cupid scoffed. "Maybe we should ask him directly." The gates suddenly flew open, startling Jason. Cupid stood there, not elusive like he had been during their first meeting, but camped firmly in the opening. "Well, aren't you curious to know why we're fighting about you? Come in!"

Jason repressed another shudder, but he cast Juno a questioning glance before he moved. Cupid was powerful, but Jason knew better than to openly defy the queen of the gods.

She glared at him, but gave a sharp nod. "Since he's already here," she said, sighing.

Cupid shot Jason a predatory grin, before he stepped out of the way, waiting as Jason sheepishly walked inside before he closed the door. Both gods stared at him, then at each other, frozen in silence.

"So—what's going on?" he managed to say, hoping neither of them would see it as an offense if he spoke first.

Cupid was the first to speak. "What do you remember of your life at Camp Jupiter?"

"What he needs to," Juno cut off before Jason could answer, but Cupid's expectant gaze remained on Jason, unwavering.

"A lot's come back since the Gigantomachy," Jason said. "All of my training, how I became praetor, what I did during the Titanomachy—"

"What about your love life?" Cupid interrupted. With a faint chuckle, he added, "Sorry. You know me. This is what interests me the most. What do you remember about that?"

Jason frowned at him. Reyna had said that they'd discussed dating in order to strengthen their relationship, but hadn't had time to pull it off before Jason had been whisked away. She had looked like there was more to it, but he had never been able to get it out of her. That Cupid would bring it up now, however, made him wonder. "Not—much," he finally settled on. It was true: his own memories on the topic might as well not exist, as far as he was concerned.

"And why would he need it?" Juno said. "By your own admission, Cupid, he already found true love. True love that _I_ gave him, I should note."

"But is true love really true if its foundation is a lie?"

Cupid's words did nothing to help Jason's discomfort. He had already had this talk with Piper—multiple times. How much of their relationship relied on the false memories Juno gave both of them? It was easier with Leo, where they'd had to rebuild their friendship from the ground up after he'd faked his death. He had never had that with Piper. Neither of them _wanted_ to break up just to see if they could rebuild their relationship afterwards, but the doubts were still there nonetheless.

A smile bloomed on Cupid's face again—terrifying, yet fond. "But you can never know if your love is true unless Juno releases her hold on your memories."

"But you can't know that you'll have something _better_ if I did," Juno argued. "Your love and happiness are true as they are now. If they weren't, don't you think your friends from Camp Jupiter would have told you by now?"

There was Reyna's initial attempts to question his relationship with Piper, but he'd dismissed that as jealousy. "What exactly are you getting at?" he asked. They were both pitching something at him, and he'd rather know what he was being sold before he had to listen to it all.

Cupid produced a small vial from his pocket. "Gorgon blood," he said. "The kind that doesn't kill you, of course. I believe you already know what it's capable of." Jason nodded—Percy had drunk similar blood, and his memories had slowly come back. "If you drink it now, Juno will have to release her grasp on you. Your memories will return, and your friends' false memories will fade. The process will likely be much faster than it was for Jackson, since _she_ "—he nodded at Juno—"had an excuse to keep meddling."

"Why do you care so much?" Jason asked. "Can't you just tell me _what_ you want me to remember, and then let me decide if I want that memory back?"

"Now, now. Is that how love operates?" Cupid chuckled. "Of course, you wouldn't know. From your standpoint, love just _happens_ to you, bursting into existence like our dear Athena from her father's skull. To most people, Jason Grace, love starts with a leap of faith. Accepting the feeling before you even _know_ that it's real. Before you know that it can lead you anywhere."

"You can refuse," Juno said. "Stay in the happiness you know with Piper. You have everything you want already."

"And thus we bring you a choice," Cupid said, smirking. "Truth versus comfort."

Jason stared at him. "Why do you care? Even if you won't tell me what memory you want me to remember so much, what's it to you? You said my love was true."

Cupid smirked. "Another opportunity has arisen."

A hint of curiosity arose in Jason. He wanted to ignore it—to focus on Piper, on what he already had and would likely be broken if he drank from that vial, if Juno's insistence was anything to go by. Yet he had heard Cupid mention a union that would impact all of Olympus. Another love for Jason? One that would not leave him plagued with doubts like he was now? Could he do that to Piper, to himself?

But maybe holding on to their relationship was the wrong choice. What if Piper stayed because she didn't want to hurt Jason any more than he wanted to hurt her? Was that enough for a relationship to hold, especially now that this conversation was bound to leave him with more questions than before?

"Can I—take some time to think about it?" The least he could do was ask Piper about it.

"You can take the blood with you, as far as I'm concerned," Cupid said. "Drink it, or don't—maybe even give it to heal someone else's wounds. I'm giving you the opportunity to take the leap, but I won't push you off the edge." He held out his arm, the vial resting in his palm for Jason to take.

* * *

"You have to drink it."

Jason stared at Piper with unabashed shock. "Did you—did you hear the rest of what I said? It could _break_ us."

"But it's your _memories_ , Jason. What kind of girlfriend would I be if I forced you to keep them locked forever when you have an opportunity like that? If you hadn't been so busy finding obscure gods, I would already have started a quest to restore your memories on my own." She sighed. "Besides, if Juno's so adamant that you shouldn't do it, it's good enough for me to tell you that you _should_. She's always been more interested in the impression of perfection than love."

"So you want me to take the chance, and damn what we have?"

"If it's all a lie? Yes, Jason!" Piper had a tired smile. "Cupid thinks he can set you up, and…well, he's _Cupid_. You only heard the part where the union would have political value, but do you really think Cupid wouldn't first worry about you finding love?"

"You—want me to replace you?"

She shrugged. "I can find love again. You could say I'm a little bit of an expert in the field, myself. And who knows, maybe it's all just some kind of mind game. What if we do fall in love again after you have your memories, but this time it's for real?"

Jason stared at her. "You don't actually believe that, do you?"

"Hard to tell. I love you _now_ , but without the fake memories, who knows? Either way, I think we owe it to ourselves to try, don't you think?" She chuckled. "And to Leo, too. We're holding his memories hostage along with ours."

The vial had been snug in his pocket since he'd returned from Olympus, so he took it out and considered Piper's words. "I—need a moment."

* * *

If he were honest with himself, he knew he was going to drink the gorgon blood—he had known from the moment he had left Olympus with the vial. But he needed answers first. He had gotten Piper's, now all he needed was one more question. One that couldn't be asked through Iris-Message.

So he traveled to New Rome, a day's travel that left him simmering in his own angst, before he could finally request an audience with the praetor. Reyna, luckily, was alone in her office when he arrived, and he was brought to her immediately.

"You've looked better," Reyna said. "Tough mission?"

Jason dropped onto a chair, sighing. He had never even asked Cupid about the spirit he'd been chasing, after all of this. Maybe he would never find it. Jason found it hard to really care, right now. "Cupid gave me this," he said, holding out the vial.

Reyna's eyes widened instantly in recognition. "Did you—"

"Not yet. But I will."

Reyna nodded slowly. "Does Piper know?"

"She does. She convinced me to do it." Or at least she comforted him in his decision, which was just as well. "But before I do it, I thought back to everything you told me about—before. When I was praetor here. So I wanted to give you one last chance to tell me the truth."

"Are you giving me an ultimatum, Grace?" There was a smile on her lips—close to a sneer with how ferocious it looked.

"Were we dating? Is that what I'm going to find out when I drink this? That I've had my true love so close all these years?"

Reyna burst out laughing. "No. No we weren't. As you might have noticed if you hadn't been worrying so much about your own 'true love' all these years, I'm just not into…dating. At all. Piper calls it 'aromantic'."

Jason gaped at her. "I thought—"

"That I was jealous? Unable to move on from you? Jason, we talked about dating back in the day for political reasons. Unite the praetors, which, with Octavian on the rise, was more than necessary. And we were proven right, since he did take over eventually. Which I don't blame you for, you were busy saving the world and all, but that was precisely what we were trying to avoid."

"So—what is it? You know something, Reyna. Just spit it out."

"I—" She faltered for the first time since Jason had come into the office. "I'm not even sure you're going to believe me until you drink that. Honestly, I thought that you would have realized in spite of Juno's manipulations. That it would have—come back to you."

"What are you talking about?"


	2. Act Two

"That's—honestly not what I expected," Piper said.

"I told Reyna pretty much the same thing. Then I drank the gorgon's blood."

"I know you did. I—the memories didn't go away painlessly."

Jason looked down. He had expected that—the experience hadn't been pleasant for him, either—but he still felt guilty for putting Piper through this. And Leo, too, most likely. He hadn't even given him a heads-up.

"Don't," Piper said. "It's better this way. For what it's worth, even without the fake history, I still like you a lot."

"But you don't love me? You're not just saying that because—"

She shook her head. "Trust me, I know how to be honest about love. No, I don't love you anymore. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but love doesn't always have to make sense, does it?" She let out a chuckle. "But seriously, we have to come back to you. That's some pretty big news you've got there. You should probably practice saying it out loud, though. That didn't sound very convincing when you told me."

Jason took a deep breath. "I'm gay." It didn't make sense, and yet it did. His old memories conflicted with the three years he'd had with Piper, but at the same time, they felt _right_.

"At least it makes sense that we never got around to having sex," Piper teased. "Or the amount of bro-ing you got with Jackson. I _knew_ I'd caught you checking him out."

There was something impressive about how clearly she'd stated what he felt in a much more muddled way. Even after years of dating her, that ability of Piper's still impressed him. "And you never—said anything?"

She shrugged. "I just thought you were bi. It's kind of a thing with Greeks and Romans, you know, so I never saw the point in saying anything about it. Either you knew and you'd tell me when you were comfortable about it, or you didn't, and I didn't want to make you feel cornered or anything."

Jason couldn't suppress the smile that came to him. This whole situation made no sense, but at least he could count on Piper to be the best. "I guess we're over, huh?"

"I guess we are."

"I'm gonna miss you."

"It's not like we won't be friends anymore," Piper retorted with a lighthearted laugh.

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah," Piper said. "I do."

* * *

Now that he was back at Camp Half-Blood to tell Piper what he'd just found out, there was someone else Jason wanted to talk to. It felt only fair to go to him, seeing as their positions had once been reversed—also at Cupid's instigation.

Besides, according to Reyna, Jason owed him a visit, regardless of circumstances.

"Hey, Nico," he called out as he stepped inside Cabin Thirteen. The place was a mess, he noted with a hint of worry: clothes and weapons were strewn haphazardly across the floor, mixed with what Jason was pretty sure was a bunch of playing cards and medical supplies.

He found Nico at the far end of the cabin, sprawled on an unmade bed, one arm thrown across his face. All he wore was a pair of boxers, and Jason's gaze traveled along the lines of Nico's body. He had never caught up with Jason or even Percy in height, but he had grown nonetheless, and his frame had gained a firm leanness when he had been sickly-thin once. He would still need a few more years to fully grow into his body and gain real muscle mass, but the small kid he had met had become an attractive young man.

Jason staggered when that thought hit him. Had he always looked at guys this way, like Piper had said, and just repressed it as part of Juno's spell? He couldn't believe he had just thought that about _Nico_. Nico was this kid Jason had always felt protective towards, not—

His eyes fell on Nico's chest, drawn there by the rise and fall and the muscles that tensed with every movement, but he took in the too-perfect regularity of the movement, too.

"You're not sleeping. Don't pretend."

Nico groaned, but his arm moved slightly, just enough to reveal one eye peeking from under it. "I'm not up for a lecture. Or a pep talk. Save it."

"Can I sit, at least?"

Nico shuffled on his bed, clearing some space on the mattress for Jason. Jason hesitated, but there was nowhere else for him to sit nearby, to he sat next to Nico, forcing his eyes to remain fixed on Nico's face.

"I would have come sooner," Jason said. "I had no idea Will had dumped you until Reyna told me earlier tonight. I'm sorry."

"I'm pretty sure it's morning," Nico retorted with a smirk. "I would know, I've been up all night. Easier to sleep during the day."

Jason ignored Nico's obvious attempt at distracting him. "Why didn't you tell me yourself? You know you could have IM-ed me anytime."

"Because I didn't want to deal with… _this_." He waved at Jason as if that explained anything. "You, coming here and trying to make me talk about my feelings like it's gonna make anything better. You don't even know that it would, because you have your gods fucking damned true love."

"Nico—"

"I know. Language. Sorry, _mom_."

Jason chuckled. "That's not what I was going to say. But you _shouldn't_ wallow in your own misery on your own like that."

"I said I _didn't_ want to talk about how I feel."

"Because it's hard enough to feel it without having to talk about it?"

Nico finally deigned to move his arm, and propped himself up on his elbow to stare at Jason. "And how do _you_ know that? Did you borrow your girlfriend's powers?"

"Look, if you don't want to talk about your feelings, that's fine." He shrugged. "But you shouldn't stay on your own. We could hang out if you want—I don't have any _pontifex_ duties at the moment. We could even pay Reyna a visit. Maybe a change of scenery would do you some good."

"I—" Nico sighed, and fell back down on the mattress with a frustrated groan. "I've been handling this all wrong, haven't I? Will was right to say I was too dependent on him."

"Hey now," Jason said, "don't beat yourself up. It's okay to feel bad after a breakup. Why did Will even tell you something like that? That's horrible!"

"Well, he's _right_. It's been a week, and look at me."

"I—am," Jason couldn't help but say. It was hard not to, when Nico was so close, his bare skin stretched out right in front of Jason's eyes. "You don't look so bad to me."

Nico let out a chuckle. "Thanks for trying." Before Jason could argue, Nico sat up on the bed. "Okay. You're right, I need to get out of here. Let's—hang out. Just give me a moment to shower?"

Jason suppressed an embarrassed chuckle at the thought. "Sure. Then I can bother you with all my issues to make you forget about yours."

Nico cast him an amused look. "I can't wait to hear what the perfect boy got up to now."

* * *

Jason couldn't help but tidy up the cabin while Nico was showering. It was more of a nervous reaction than anything, a way to distract himself from thinking about Nico in the next room, naked under a spray of hot water—

Well, he wasn't doing a very good job at distracting himself. But it was better than sitting there doing nothing.

Gods, what was even up with him? It felt like three years of divinely-repressed sexual urges were all bursting free at once. Jason doubted it had anything with Nico himself—he probably would have had the same reaction with Percy, or Leo, or Frank. Right?

That didn't really help with the sight of Nico in black sweatpants, his wet hair dripping water down to his camp shirt, clinging to his skin.

"Let's go, then," Nico said, before he caught Jason staring. "What?"

Jason managed to settle on a smirk. "You're going to get a few new admirers if you go out looking like that."

Nico frowned at him, then shrugged. "Too late for that—which you'd know if you were here more often. Besides, I've gotta show off the goods. Make Will know what he's giving up on, right?" He strode towards the exit with barely another glance at Jason. "Are you coming? You can tell me all about those issues of yours while we figure out what to do."

Jason had little choice but to follow him out, even as he fumbled for words. "It's—I'd rather we talk about that somewhere private."

Nico glanced back at him. "O—kay? Where do you want to go, then?"

Jason hadn't really thought about it; he'd hoped that they could talk about it in Cabin Thirteen, but if Nico was so intent on getting out at last, Jason wasn't gonna stop him. "How about—"

"S-sorry, are you Nico di Angelo?" They both turned to the girl who had just spoken—one of Camp Half-Blood's newer recruits, probably, since Jason had never seen before. She looked intimidated by the two of them, but whether it was because they were twice her age and towered over her or because she knew who they were, Jason couldn't tell. "Chiron said he needed to talk to you at the Big House. It sounded important."

Nico turned to Jason, who shrugged. "My issues can wait. Let's see what Chiron wants."

They followed the girl towards the Big House, where Chiron was waiting for them. His stance betrayed a feeling of doubt Jason had not seen in him often over the years, even though he was trying to hide it. Beside him stood Rachel and Will; at the sight of them, Nico scoffed.

"Is this an intervention? You're too late, I'm already out of the cabin. I was going to hang out with Jason, so if all you care about is my social life, I don't need your help."

"It's—not about us," Will said, his voice uneasy. "I mean—I _was_ talking to Chiron about you, because I was worried, and—"

"And you lost the right to worry when you dumped me and pointed out all my issues to me," Nico retorted. "What's it about, then?"

"I had another prophecy," Rachel. "For a quest. A quest for you." She glanced up at Chiron, who nodded back at her.

"Since when are quests addressed at one person?" Jason couldn't help but ask.

Chiron ignored him, and kept his attention on Nico. "It's best if you come inside inside. We should talk about it— _alone_ —before anyone else finds out about it."

Nico stared at him frowning, and huffed out a frustrated breath. "Fine," he spat. Then, turning to Jason, "Sorry to ditch you."

Jason nodded. "I'll wait out here."

He watched Nico follow Chiron and Rachel into the Big House, staying outside alone with Will. The girl who had come to fetch Nico had long gone back—to her own friends, probably. Out the corner of his eye, Jason caught Will's nervous gaze at him.

"I—I should go," Will said. "I don't think he'll want me around when he comes out."

He dashed away, and Jason wondered if he was just referring to the usual awkwardness between a freshly broken-up couple, or something specific about the prophecy he had overheard. Whatever it was, he doubted he would get an answer until Nico came out.

Luckily, he did not have to wait for long.

"This has got to be a _joke_!" Nico's voice, even more annoyed than he had sounded coming in. Immediately after the outburst, the doors flew open, and Nico stormed out of the Big House, Rachel behind him.

"Nico, this is _serious_!"

"Oh, good, Jason, you're still here. We're going to need your opinion on this. Rachel's latest prophecy challenges me to find my 'true love', in exchange for a dose of liquid Mist. Which, it turns out, we need to recharge the Camp's grounds every once in a while and preserve their magic. So either I find love, or Camp Half-Blood will be doomed next time the forces of evil decide to go on the offensive. Does that sound serious or ridiculous to you?"

"Um—" Jason took a step back in front of Nico's unabashed fury, and glanced at Rachel. "Are you sure—"

"Yes, I'm sure. The prophecy was even signed by Eros. _The son of Hades shall—_ "

"You are _not_ reciting this poetic shit again!" Nico interrupted her.

"Isn't that a _good_ thing? Helping you find your true love and save the camp?"

Nico stared at him. "Yes, because Eros has only ever had _my best interests_ in mind! It's not like he just loves to fuck with me or anything!"

"The point is," Rachel added, "Nico is actually supposed to go on a quest to find liquid Mist, and he's supposed to succeed only if he can find true love before he reaches his goal."

"That—does sound pretty convoluted," Jason conceded. "Couldn't Eros wait until things were a little less—raw for him?"

"I'm _right here_ ," Nico pointed. Still, the anger in his voice had cooled off to a sarcastic snap, which Jason saw as progress.

"You know the gods," Rachel said. "If anything, it would only make things more interesting for Eros, I guess."

" _Fucking with me_ ," Nico repeated in a mock whisper. Jason couldn't help but chuckle at it.

"Point is, Nico, I know this is hard to ask, but—the entire Camp depends on your succeeding."

Nico stared at Rachel, then took a few steps away from the Big House silently. When his back was turned to both her and Jason, he said, "So what else is new?" He sighed, and walked away without looking back.

Jason glanced at Rachel. "I'll talk to him," he said, and went after Nico.

* * *

He only caught up at the edge of the woods—and only because Nico stopped there, out of earshot from anyone at camp. The camp's magic had allowed some of the snow from the outside world to trickle in here, even if the weather remained otherwise warm. Still, seeing Nico surrounded in white felt oddly metaphorical to Jason.

Nico spoke before Jason could say anything. "I'll—you know I won't abandon the camp. It's just—I finally get out of my cabin to have a god basically taunting me about the break-up. 'Well, you're single now. Good thing he wasn't your true love, right? Now go find who it is, because clearly this relationship didn't matter!' But it _did_ matter to me."

"I understand."

"Do you? Last I checked—"

"Piper isn't my true love."

Nico gaped at him silently for a moment. "Is—is that what you were trying to say? Did you guys break up?"

"Yes—well, sort of. It's not the important part." Jason sighed. "I'm sorry, I don't want to make this about me—"

"Spit it out," Nico said, sitting down in the snow and patting the ground next to him. Jason hesitated, but he dropped in the snow as well. It felt cool to the touch, but nothing more than that. It was probably a good thing that he had the snow to cool off, because Jason felt his cheeks heating up just thinking about what he had to say.

"Cupid—Eros, whatever—is also playing games with me," he said. "Last night, he gave me a vial of gorgon blood so I could recover the memories Juno never restored."

"And you broke up with Piper."

"Yeah, but not just that." He had not idea how to tell Nico, so he just took a deep breath. "I'm gay, Nico. I figured it out when I was fifteen, not long before Juno took me away, and after that—I forgot about it. Reyna knew, but she wasn't sure what to do about it." He chuckled. "I don't blame her."

"You're—" Nico's eyes were wide with shock.

"I know. It's—complicated to process. Doesn't help that I'm apparently going through three years of repressed sexual urges in a short time." He glanced at Nico, embarrassed at his own admission. "Sorry, that was too much information. I just—wanted to tell you about it, because of how I found out about you, and because we're friends, and because—I had this idea, that maybe the reason why I reacted the way I did back then was because a part of me could relate to what you were going through."

To his surprise, Nico chuckled, then burst out laughing. "You were right, this would totally have helped distract me from the Will thing. You're a worse mess than I am, Grace."

Jason smiled back at him. "Happy to be of service."

Nico returned his gaze. "And—you know, thanks for telling me. I know how difficult it can be."

"Well—yeah, it was." It did feel like a relief, though, getting to tell someone. Of course, Piper and Reyna knew, but Reyna had already known, and he'd had to tell Piper to explain why he broke up with her. Getting to tell someone just because he wanted to was something different altogether. "Back to _your_ problem, now."

Nico detached his gaze from Jason, and that simple gesture was enough to make Jason realize just how long they had been staring at each other—and how _close_ they were sitting to each other, shoulders pressed together. Physical closeness was not something new to their friendship, but it was the first time it troubled Jason like that.

"Always business with you, huh? I'm going to go on that quest, of course." He smirked. "And if my true love turns out to be just another boy who'll keep me around until they decide my issues are too much to handle, well, at least I'll get some fun out of it."

"You know that's not what true love is like, right?" Jason teased.

"I don't, since apparently I've never had that."

Jason fell silent, unable to argue with that, and unsure he was really an authority on the question after all. "I should come with you," he finally blurted out. "Quests are usually done in threes, right? That means you, your true love, and someone else. I could have your back. And we _were_ supposed to hang out."

Nico cast him a curious glance. "You do realize that means you'll be third-wheeling, if Eros is right?"

Jason shrugged. "I'll consider it a crash course on everything I need to learn for myself."

"How the tables have turned," Nico retorted, chuckling. "Sure, if you want to come along, I'm not gonna stop you. I could use the company. Thanks for offering."

"Of course. Anyone would do it."


	3. Act Three

Jason insisted that Nico needed a good night's sleep before they left on their quest, especially if he had barely slept since his break-up. Nico had agreed only on the condition that he could sleep in Cabin One, arguing that Thirteen reminded him too much of nights he'd spent with Will.

"And I totally needed to think about that, thanks," Jason said, flushing a deep red. Of course, his brain was more than willing to think about it. "Especially when you're about to sleep in the same room as me."

"Come on, are you really gonna act all offended by the idea that I had sex with my boyfriend of three years?" Nico scoffed. "Like you and Piper didn't do anything."

"We—didn't, actually."

"Oh." Then Nico's eyes flew open as he realized Jason's implication. " _Oh_."

"Yeah. I didn't really have time to find anyone back in Camp Jupiter, either."

Nico eyed him up and down. "There really is no justice in the universe."

Jason chuckled, and dropped on his mattress. "I think I'll survive the unbearable shame of being a virgin at nineteen years old, thank you very much."

"That's—not what I meant." Nico settled on the mattress next to Jason's—they'd laid the two of them on the floor, since Cabin One's beds were too isolated for either of their likings. "And here I thought Juno couldn't look any worse to me."

"Don't say that," Jason teased. "We're in her husband's home!"

"Oooh, how horrible!" Nico retorted, and they both laughed. "But seriously, Jason, you're a great guy. I don't think you'll have a lot of trouble finding someone who loves _you_. Eros should have sent you on this quest, not me."

"You say that like you're the most unlovable guy that's ever existed. I thought you'd grown out of that phase."

"It's not like anyone lined up to date me. Not before I got together with Will, not after, certainly not since we broke up. Do you know how many people said that they'd gladly bend their sexuality to get with you and Piper, since they knew they couldn't be with just one of you?"

"And you never told me about their offers? I'm hurt, Nico."

Nico scoffed. "Very funny. Because you'd totally have gone for a threesome, Mr. I'm-Still-A-Virgin."

"Right where it hurts."

"Boo hoo. Do I have to kiss you better?"

"Maybe you should," Jason blurted out before he could help himself.

Nico turned to stare at him. "Flirty Jason. _That's_ new. Maybe just for that, you deserve—" He leaned in, and pressed his lips briefly to Jason's cheek. It was brief and fluttering, yet it sent Jason's heart racing like nothing else before. "There. All better."

Jason wasn't so sure he agreed with that assessment.

* * *

In the morning, they left Camp Half-Blood via shadow-travel. Or, as Nico put it, "Eh, fuck Will and his caution, it's not like I'm fifteen anymore, I can take it."

The prophecy—the exact text of which Nico hadn't been willing to divulge—apparently told Nico the three important steps on his quest to find Hecate's stash of liquid Mist. All they had to do was head to the first place, combine the clue there with the prophecy to find the second, rinse and repeat.

"Sounds like a treasure hunt more than a quest to find true love," Jason noted. "Are we sure some other god isn't messing with us and pretending to be Eros?"

Nico shrugged. "Psyche had to go on some pretty dumb missions to prove her love for Eros to Aphrodite. Maybe unimaginative demonstrations of true love runs in the family."

Jason chuckled. "All right. Where do we start?"

Nico didn't reply; instead, he grabbed Jason's sleeve, and pulled him into the shadows with him. When the world re-formed around them, Jason immediately recognized the scenery.

"We're in Los Angeles," he said. He had always avoided the city as much as he could, especially since he had met his mother's ghost during the Giant War. Juno had let him recover his childhood memories of living in the city, and they weren't good ones. Still, he doubted that was related—this quest wasn't his, after all. "Do you think it's related to the entrance to the Underworld?"

Nico shrugged. "We're nowhere near it. This is somewhere in Hollywood."

Jason had already noticed as much. "Okay, where to now, then?"

"We should be almost there—"

Nico looked around, and headed in a seemingly random direction, forcing Jason to follow him. They headed down the street, with the ocean in view ahead of them; but after just a few minutes, Nico took a turn, then another. His determined look seemed confident, but Jason wondered how he knew where to go.

"Following the instructions," Nico replied when Jason asked.

"That's not laconic at all."

"The prophecy wasn't really poetry so much as a message that was forced into rhyming. Including a bunch of instructions."

"And you won't tell it to me because—"

"Because it also included a bunch of embarrassing stuff. It's bad enough that Chiron and Rachel know, let alone _Will_."

"You could just skip those parts."

"You could just _shut the fuck up_ ," Nico said. "This is final. I'm glad you're here, but we're _not_ talking about the exact words in the prophecy."

Before Jason could argue any further, Nico stopped abruptly in front of a building: a dingy warehouse, all in undulated black tole. The only identifying mark on it was a crown of laurels crudely drawn across the gates, but Nico walked towards them without hesitation. "This is the place."

The door took some struggling with to open, and reveal what was inside: an abandoned television studio. A derelict set was still half-built to one side, representing what Jason guessed was a classic sitcom living room. The rest of the space was sectioned off, with the necessary equipment for make-up, costume artists, or camera and lighting crews, to work their magic. There were more Jason couldn't even identify on sight.

Nico headed towards the set, ignoring the rest. "The first clue should be there," he said. "Hidden in this ghost fake apartment. I'm sure there's some kind of irony to be found there." His sword was out of its scabbard, Jason realized, and his stance was tense. He expected a fight, and that was enough for Jason, who took out his _gladius_ as well.

They searched the set, or rather, Nico searched while Jason stood guard, since he had no idea what to look _for_. Still, he didn't seem to find whatever he needed.

"You know," Jason said after Nico closed another cupboard with a frustrated sigh, "I think I've been here before." Nico glanced at him silently, so Jason just explained. "This set. I've seen it before—from the inside, I mean. From this angle—" He stood on an empty spot on the floor, where traces in the dust showed that there used to be furniture. "I know I've seen this before. Many times."

"Care to elaborate?"

Jason met Nico's annoyed glance, but he chose not to take umbrage to it. "My mom was an actress. I think she might have worked on this set, and that she took me."

"What, here?"

Jason nodded. "Juno made sure I remembered how horrible my mom was to me and Thalia, after I met her ghost. I hated this place—I remember it was hot, and loud. I couldn't have been much more than a year old."

"Do you think there's still footage of what they were shooting?"

The question took Jason aback—he'd expected many possible reactions to Nico finding out he'd come here before, but that wasn't one of them. "Um…what?"

"Footage. There was something where you stand, unless your mom made you stand the whole time before you were old enough to walk." Nico headed towards the cameras."

"It was—a crib, I guess? Why does it matter?"

"Because we're looking for a baby blanket."

Jason blinked silently. "Um—okay then. Maybe it was put aside with the other props?" He nodded towards that section of the warehouse, and Nico headed straight for it. Jason strode after him. "I won't say 'I told you so', but this is exactly why you should have told me what we were looking for."

"Do tell," Nico retorted.

"Because—" Jason reached on the shelf they'd just passed. "This is what you're looking for, isn't it?" He pulled on the purple blanket; he'd recognized it instantly when he'd seen it.

Nico stared at his finding, his gaze vacant with shock. But he finally focused on it, and nodded. "It is."

"So what about it?"

"There should have been a recording under it. Not sure what kind, exactly."

Jason turned back to the shelf, and indeed, found an old VHS on it. "There is, I guess. Do we have to play it?"

"It's our first clue, supposedly."

It took them a moment to find a VHS player in the abandoned studio, but finally, they found one in the camera section, still connected to a working television. But when they played it—

"Mom?" Jason said. He wasn't sure why he was surprised; if he'd been there for his mom's job, clearly she had recorded something here. It was an episode of a television series she starred in: a mindless sitcom, an avalanche of half-baked gags with nothing in sight that could serve as their clue.

"Look, you're there too!" Nico teased, pointing at the bright purple crib in the corner. Indeed, a small boy rested in it, blonde and blue-eyed, with a scar on his lip, who made the image waver whenever the cameras focused on him too closely. "You were adorable! What happened?"

"Very funny."

The image brutally cut to a close-up of Beryl Grace. She was still on set, but it was not in a similar state of abandonment Jason and Nico had found it in. "Jason, my precious son," she said. "Hopefully you'll get to see this someday."

"What the—" Jason started, but Nico hushed him, focusing on the video.

"Juno's taking your from me, and if I'm honest with myself, it's for the best. But—I want you to know that I didn't abandon you. I'm sending you to New Rome, where you'll learn to be a better version of yourself than I could ever make you. And I will always love you and keep you in my thoughts." She chuckled. "Sorry, I'm sure that sounds like empty clichés to you. Maybe I've spent too long in front of cameras to convey my emotions without them. But I do mean this with all my heart: I love you. Whoever you grow up to be, I know that it's someone I can be proud of. All I hope is that you're happy, too. Find yourself a nice girl, or a nice boy. Hopefully you'll have better taste than your mother." Another chuckle. "Well, that's all I get, apparently. I'm going to protect this tape from deterioration with a tiny drop of Styx water, so I'm sure you can watch it no matter how long it sits there, but…it might draw out a few monsters. Nothing you can't handle, I'm sure. Good luck, my baby."

A crash behind them was all the warning Nico and Jason got before the monsters were on them.

* * *

Jason's mom had been right about one thing: the monsters _were_ nothing he and Nico couldn't handle. Just a few minor Underworld dwellers, dispatched with a few well-placed sword strikes combined with their powers.

Unfortunately, that meant the battle was a poor distraction from what Jason had just found.

"Are you okay?" Nico asked. "I didn't know—"

"I'm fine," Jason said. "It's more…weird than anything. I've remembered so many bad things she did, and her ghost tried to kill me, so seeing this—Who was she really? Is one of them the real her, and the other isn't?" He shrugged. "It's nice to hear these words from her, I guess. But—I don't really know what to think about it."

"Too much information over the past few days?" Nico chuckled.

"Maybe that too, yeah." Jason smiled back at him. "Was it the clue you needed?"

"I think so. Your mother mentioned New Rome, and combined with the Prophecy—"

"You think that's where we need to go?"

Nico nodded. "Looks like we're going to New Rome as you suggested, after all."

* * *

"Care to share whatever other clues you have?" Jason asked when they appeared in New Rome. "Because I know the city pretty well and I assume you have something more specific than just 'New Rome'."

"We're going to the bathhouse."

"Well, I guess this is as good a place as any to find hot guys who could be your true love," Jason joked. Then, noticing the weight in Nico's silence, his own hilarity faded. "Wait, seriously?"

"Yes. Seriously." Nico turned away, but not before Jason could see the deep flush on his cheeks. He started down the street, forcing Jason to follow yet again.

"I'm sorry; I shouldn't have joked about that."

Nico looked up at him, eyebrows raised. "What? No, you—it's okay. I'd rather joke about it. Besides, you're not wrong."

"So—what's the big issue?"

"Do you really think it can be that simple? See a guy almost naked, fall in love, happily ever after?" He sighed. "It was so complicated when I first got with Will. I liked him, he was great, he was open with his feelings and trying to get _me_ to be open about mine. So I resisted every step of the way. Was that a hint that it wasn't true? Because it felt like I was in love, at the time."

Jason shrugged. "I'm obviously no expert, but I don't think true love has to be instantaneous. Maybe your love _was_ true, but it's not anymore."

"Like you and Piper's?" Nico's pointed look was hard to miss.

"Why not? People change, even when gods don't mess with us. You and Will changed, and he stopped loving you. It doesn't mean you can't find another true love."

"So you think true love doesn't last forever?" Nico scoffed. "And that was the _one_ thing I was looking forward to about this whole thing!"

"If you took it for granted, it would have been doomed to fail anyway, right?"

"I guess."

"Besides, just because it doesn't _have_ to last forever, doesn't mean that it _won't_. That's what makes it special when you find someone you _can_ spend you life with. If it was all predetermined, what's the point?"

Nico glanced at him again. "That got deep really fast."

Jason chuckled, feeling embarrassed about himself. "Sorry. I think it's the influence of all those minor gods. Plus, I think fifteen-year-old me is coming back to the surface because of all these memories."

"Well, fifteen-year-old Jason sounds like he could have taught fifteen-year-old Nico a few things."

Jason chuckled, but his laugh cut off when they reached the bathhouse. It was a massive, Roman-style _thermae_ , sprawled in front of them and to the sides. It had been a while since Jason had been here, but he remembered it perfectly, from to the earthy tones of its outside to the mosaics that came into view even through the always-open doors. The house's layout, with its intricate network of rooms and different pools, was still intact in his memory. But there was new information here, as well.

"For starters," he said, trying to keep his tone light, "fifteen-year-old me could have told you all the things he learned about himself in here."

Nico stared at him, the hints of a smile peeking on his lips. "I shouldn't be surprised, and yet—"

Jason shrugged. "Can you really blame me? People go in here naked or with just a towel, and in case you didn't notice, demigods tend to be on the attractive side."

"If you start telling me stories of how you jerked off in there, I think I might have to run away," Nico retorted, but the grin on his face was growing more obvious now.

"Never went _that_ far. The cold water pool did come in handy a few times, though."

Nico rolled his eyes. "I'm sure it did."

For a still second, silence hung between them, more amused than awkward.

"So—" Jason started, "do we just go in, or—"

"Sure, I guess we can look around for a while."

* * *

It was the middle of the day, meaning the bathhouse wasn't particularly crowded. Younger demigods were all training with the legion, while older ones had jobs to attend to. Most of the people who were there seemed to be student at the university in New Rome, whose irregular schedules meant they came here whenever they could.

The house was divided in half, with each room existing in duplicates to keep male and female demigods apart. There had been pushback against that when Jason was praetor, especially from demigods whose genders weren't so clear-cut. There still was, with Reyna and Frank's support, but for now, their efforts had been fruitless against thousands of years of tradition.

"You weren't kidding when you said that people came in here naked," Nico noted in a low voice as they sat down on the edge of a hot pool.

"That an issue?"

"Well—not really, but—"

Jason doubted the redness on Nico's skin was just from the heat. "It's just normal to them. A lot of people in New Rome are legacies who grew up here, and a lot of new recruits also adopt the tradition."

"Did you—"

The unfinished question wasn't a surprise. He was wearing a towel right now, but it was mostly for Nico's sake. "Well, yeah. I've lived here for as long as I could remember, before Juno messed with my memories and gave me details about my mother."

Nico glanced at him again, a smirk on his face. "Well, don't let me stop you if you want to drop the towel."

Jason held his gaze, and with a matching smile, reached for his towel. "Sure, if you don't mind." He only froze when he saw Nico's horrified expression, and burst out laughing. "You should see your face right now."

With a frustrated sigh, Nico looked away. "Very funny. I'm starting to see why this could be the place of your epiphany, though." He let out a nervous chuckle. "It's probably a better start than my stupid crush on Percy Jackson."

"I can't really say it was easier to deal with. And I'm not just talking about the cold water, I mean—just knowing you're gay. It's always scary, even here in New Rome."

"You were a _praetor_ , what would anyone have done to you?"

"I was a praetor, so I was lonely at the top. Why do you think most of the praetors date each other? We're not supposed to get too personal with anyone, and when we do, there's always that hint of 'are they nice because they like me, or because they want something out of me?'"

There was pity in Nico's gaze when he looked at Jason again. "That's—not something you should have to wonder at fifteen years old."

"It isn't. The older I get, the more I wonder why our legion is composed entirely of children, to be honest. At least at Camp Half-Blood the adults usually just _leave_ , but here? We're a city. We should know better."

The weight of Nico's hand over his own startled him. "You made it out okay, though. If you think there should be a change, I'm sure you can make it happen. It's not like Reyna or Frank won't support you, and you have your own clout."

Jason nodded slowly. "You're right." He knew there was a reason neither of them had stepped down when, according to tradition, Reyna at least was too old to still be in the legion. "Maybe I should do that. Work to make this place better, at least when I'm not out hunting for gods." Then, realizing what they were doing, he scoffed at himself. "We shouldn't be wasting time like this. What are we looking for?"

"I—we're not looking for a _what_ , but a _who_ ," Nico said.

"What, really? Your—your true love?"

Nico shook his head. "That's—not really what the prophecy said. I thought it would be, it was certainly _implied_ , but we're looking for a guide to the third and final place."

"So—do you think you don't need your true love after all?"

"Oh, um—yeah, I do. I just thought it would be same person who would guide us, but I guess it doesn't _have_ to be."

"Okay," Jason said. Nico's vague indication made him feel a little lost, but Nico had made it clear that he wouldn't go into more detail than that. "And how do we find him?" He paused. "Is it even a 'him'? If it's a girl we're looking for, we're gonna have a little bit of trouble meeting in here."

"No, it's—it's a man. But—we don't have to look right now. Can't we just sit here for a while? Or maybe you could show me around?"

"Sure, I—why not?"

* * *

Jason showed him around the bathhouse, then they settled back at the _frigidarium_ , the cold water pool near the bathhouse's entrance. Nico insisted that they stayed there for the rest of the afternoon, until the bathhouse closed and they were forced to leave.

"Care to tell me what's going on _now_?" he asked as they walked out.

"I'm not sure the guide was there."

"You're not _sure_?"

"We just have to come back tomorrow, okay?" Nico sighed. "Do you know where we could stay until then? I don't feel like taking us back to Camp Half-Blood now."

Jason nodded. "I—the _pontifex_ gets an apartment downtown, yeah. It's not far from here, I'll show you."

* * *

"Here we are," Jason said as he led the way into his apartment. It was a penthouse near the center of New Rome—nothing but the best for the _pontifex maximus_ and local hero. In a way, he was embarrassed by how little he used it. Until now, he'd always gravitated more towards Camp Half-Blood when he was on break, since Piper was there herself more often than not.

"That's—it's a really nice place," Nico said.

"Thanks. I handled most of the decorating." He'd taken a while doing it, actually—probably the longest time he had spent in the apartment. The style he had gone for was a modern one, in rich blacks and electric blue highlights on a white base.

"Oh. It's not really what I expected."

"What does that mean?" Jason asked, grinning. "Expected something like Cabin One?"

"More something like your barracks, actually." He chuckled. "Sorry, it was stupid to assume that of me. Of course you're more than your life in the Legion."

"No, I—it makes sense. It was like that at first. Took me a while to find a style that was really _me_ , honestly. Thalia helped, but I didn't want to be too—punk rock, I guess. I did keep her idea for the color scheme, though."

"It—fits you. Especially the new you."

"It does?" Jason chuckled. "Why, because I'm gay, so of course I do my own interior design?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "I mean this place matches your new attitude. The Jason who can actually be flirty, and checks out guys at a public bathhouse, and is brought on the verge of tears because he saw his mom."

"I wasn't—" Jason paused when he caught Nico's skeptical look. "Okay, maybe a little."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I—not really. Do you want to tell me why we left the bathhouse without even talking to anyone?"

"Not really?"

Jason sighed, but he shrugged. "Well, I'll order takeout, then."

* * *

Somehow they ended on a blanket nest in the middle of Jason's living room, with video games on his nearly-pristine TV, takeout, and not-so-healthy snacks—in Jason's defense, potato chips were the only nonperishable thing he had left in his cupboards.

Their evening spread into night, until they were too tired to bother moving from where they were. They just stripped down to their underwear, turned off the lights, and settled more comfortably on the blankets. Jason was already half-asleep when Nico's voice woke him up.

"We didn't talk to anyone at the bathhouse because _you're_ my guide," he said.

Jason opened his eyes, briefly confused about what he was saying, until the pieces fell in place. "But—why didn't you—"

"The guide was supposed to be someone who would tell me a story about his past, and know his way around the bathhouse. And who would take me to his home after we left. I kept thinking—maybe something will interrupt us, or we'll meet someone who'll come talk to me. You know how prophecies can go. But then nothing happened all day, so we left, and you said you had this apartment, and—"

Nico's ramble ended in a sigh, and he fell silent. A minute passed, and Jason wondered if he'd dreamed this, or if Nico had suddenly fallen asleep.

But he spoke again. "Please say something."

"I'm—not sure why you act like that's a bad thing."

"The guide's home—that was the third place. That's why I was nervous about meeting him, I thought—" He sighed. "I know I'm more comfortable with myself than I used to be, but the idea of sleeping with someone I didn't know, that was—a bit much."

"But?" Jason asked, because he sensed that it was coming.

"But the guide—I know it was only _implied_ that it would be the same person, but I was so sure it would be, except—well, that can't be you." He let out a frustrated sigh. "And you don't have any liquid Mist, do you? Because I didn't find my true love. Because I _failed_."

"Well—maybe we could try again?"

Nico sighed. "Right. _That's_ sure to work."

"What if it's my fault, and I messed it all up? Maybe the video wasn't the first clue, or I stopped you from meeting the actual guide."

"Or maybe Eros is still just fucking with me. Jason, give it up. I'll figure out another way to get the Mist we need for Camp Half-Blood. Maybe Hazel can get me some, since she's on good terms with Hecate."

Jason rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, considering what Nico had said. "What if the prophecy isn't wrong?" Nico didn't respond, but Jason sensed the way Nico tensed up next to him, and he continued before Nico tried to stop him. "I mean, for one thing, it can't be a coincidence that Eros makes a move on both of us on the same day. Like, suddenly I find out that I'm gay, and you need to find your true love?"

"Jason—"

"You know what I first thought when I came into your cabin yesterday morning? I thought about how hot you were. Maybe it's selfish, or maybe that makes me a horrible person for ignoring that you were obviously in pain, but I did."

" _Jason—_ "

"And looking back, you know what I kept thinking about when we were in Greece, all those years ago? I was wondering whether you were okay bringing the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Half-Blood. Not if Reyna was okay, or if the war was okay, but _you_. The way I looked at you all this time, the way I always tried to keep you safe—"

" _Jason!_ " The way Nico shouted his name forced him to stop talking. "That's—it's not funny."

"It's not a joke."

"You've known you were gay for what, less than forty-eight hours? And suddenly you decide you're—"

"In love with you," Jason completed. "Yeah. I—I am." Saying the words out loud felt weird, though perhaps not as weird as realizing it at all. Maybe Nico was right—maybe it was too fast and he was confusing the storm of feelings he'd experienced since drinking that gorgon blood.

Nico stood up. "I'm serious. This isn't funny, and you're not gonna make me feel better for failing at this quest. What, you're gay, so you're gonna go for the first gay guy you know?"

Jason scrambled to his knees, noticing the outline of Nico walking around and gathering his clothes in the dark. "You know that's not it. I'd never do something like that to you—"

"Yeah, because you want to protect me so fucking much! Maybe that's your play? You want to help me move on from Will?"

"Nico—"

"No, just—don't."

Before Jason could argue, Nico had vanished—shadow-travelled away to gods knew where.


	4. Act Four

Jason had searched around New Rome all night, until an Iris-Message reached him from a worried Piper in the morning. Nico had come back to Camp Half-Blood alone, and refused to talk to anyone, leading people to wonder if anything had happened to Jason on their quest.

The travel to Camp Half-Blood would take hours on pegasus's back, but Jason didn't trust himself to stay on the saddle after his sleepless night. He settled on taking a train instead—he could catch a few hours of sleep on the way. Even then, when he reached Camp Half-Blood, he felt neither rested nor ready to face whatever was awaiting him there.

Nico was still locked in Cabin Thirteen, however, and he hadn't told anyone anything—about Jason's confession, or anything else. As soon as Piper told him that, Jason headed straight for the cabin, but its doors wouldn't budge.

"Nico?" he called. "It's Jason. Look, I—can we talk?"

"What happened, Jason?" Piper asked. "You're—different."

Jason ignored her. "Nico? At least let us know you're okay in there."

A soft sound—a sigh, maybe—came from inside. "I'm alive," Nico's voice followed, sarcastic as ever. "Come to apologize?"

"I wasn't joking, Nico. So no, I'm not apologizing." He waited, but Nico didn't reply. "Look, I'll—give you the time you need. But we'll have to talk about it eventually."

With that, he stepped away from the cabin, Piper on his trail. "You _didn't_."

"Piper, please—not now."

She stared at him for a moment. "You know, I didn't think you'd move on _that_ easily."

Of course she'd figured it out. "Me—me neither," he admitted. "And neither does Nico, apparently, because he doesn't believe me." He sighed. "Look, I'm sure you have the best insights for me right now, but—can it wait? I have a few things to deal with first. Alone."

Piper rolled her eyes, but she nodded. "Let me know when you're ready to listen to reason." She paused. "Wait, that's not right. That's what a child of Athena would say, right? Let me know when you're ready to listen to your heart? Too cheesy?"

"Piper—"

"Right, sorry. Besides, I guess that's not the issue here, if you already told him." She smirked. "Go. Do whatever important business it is that you have to deal with. I'll be in my cabin if you need me."

* * *

He headed to the Big House first, but when he passed Cabin Seven, Will walked out at once and stepped in Jason's way.

"It's my fault Nico's like this," Will said in lieu of a greeting. "I'm sorry."

"Um—what?"

"He's still having trouble dealing with the breakup, right? That's why he came back before the quest was finished?"

Jason frowned at him, and was ready to tell Will he was wrong, but—maybe he had a point. Obviously Will had no idea about Jason's confession or Nico's reaction to it, but maybe there was something to Nico's denial that tied back to the way Will had dumped him. "Don't apologize to _me_ ," Jason finally said. "I only had the summarized version of what you told him when you broke up, and that was already pretty bad."

"I—I know. Believe me, I regretted what I said as soon as I did. I just—couldn't take it anymore."

"You had every right to break up with him," Jason retorted. "No one should feel trapped in their relationship. But did you really have to hurt him _more_ than dumping him was already bound to?"

"I _know_. I just—I don't know how to apologize, especially without sounding like I'm trying to get back together."

The hint of jealousy Jason felt was a new experience for him—a raw, hungry feeling that felt all the more foolish and unnecessary when Will wasn't interested in getting Nico back. But what if Nico still wanted to get back with Will? Maybe _that_ was the issue? Why the quest had made him so angry?

"Look, Will, I don't know what to tell you. I've never been in your situation. But you should apologize to him anyway. Just…be open about yourself." He used the same phrasing Nico had described Will with the day before. "If you're making it clear what you want, maybe he'll listen and understand."

Will nodded. "You're right, of course."

"You should do that now. Maybe he'll listen to you, when he won't talk to anyone else."

"If _you_ failed to get into that cabin, there's no way—" Will chuckled. "You're much more important to him than I ever was."

Jason's protests died when he realized what Will had just said. "I—am?"

A faint smile bloomed on Will's lips. "I dated him for three years. I think I would know. It took me a while, but when he told me about your visit to Cupid, I realized you were what I thought I was to him. The first person to show him open, unconditional acceptance. That was important to him, you know. He has a bit of a crush on you, even after all this time."

"He—does?" Jason blinked, unable to find more elaborate words. "How do you even know?"

"Well, he told me. We were always honest to each other. Besides, he was convinced you knew, because he felt so obvious about it when you were around."

"And you didn't mind?"

Will shrugged. "It's not like anything could have come out of it, right? Besides, I trusted him not to cheat on me. In the end, it didn't matter, right?" He chuckled, then took a deep breath, regaining his composure. "But you're right. I should at least go to him and try to talk to him. I owe him that much, after what I did to him. Just—in case I fail, and you get to talk to him, can you tell him I'm sorry?"

Jason stared at him briefly, then nodded. "Sure. But right now, I have to go talk to Chiron."

"Of course, your quest! Sorry I held you with my mopey talk."

"No, you—it was interesting." And disconcerting. Now Jason was left with yet another reason why Nico could have been so angry at him. If he thought Jason knew about his crush, then it made sense he'd think Jason was not genuine when he'd told him he loved him so suddenly.

And yet, as he watched Will walk away, Jason felt mostly hope. Because if Nico did have a crush on him at one point, it meant he had a chance. Maybe not now, maybe not as part of Eros's quest—that didn't even matter anymore. But someday, when Nico was ready.

* * *

He found Chiron and Rachel in the Big House, already absorbed in conversation. No doubt they'd been wondering why Nico had returned so abruptly.

"The liquid Mist," Jason said. "Can we get some through any other means?"

Rachel exchanged a glance with Chiron. "I'm not sure," she said. "But it's not guaranteed that we'll get it on time. We don't even know when the camp's protections will fail."

"Get started on it. Nico said Hazel's connection to Hecate might be useful, and maybe Hecate's own children could help too."

"Jason, what—"

"Look, I'm not forcing Nico to go through this. The whole 'find your true love' bullshit? He doesn't deserve to be thrown into that so quickly. He needs time to recover from his break-up, not to look for someone else."

"What happened, Jason?" Chiron asked.

"It's my fault," he said. "I hurt him. That's all you need to know. But I refuse to put him through more. Tell Eros he can come at me if he's not happy about it."

Another exchange of glances, then Rachel said: "Chiron, can you leave us?"

The centaur frowned at her, but he nodded. "I'll go see the Hecate kids."

When he was gone, Rachel turned to Jason again. "I don't have all the details, but I do know a little of what's happened between you two. Oracle privileges, you know."

"No offense, but it's not really any of your business, Rachel."

"I know. I just think it's great, what you're doing. For him, I mean."

"Did you miss the part where I hurt him?"

"You told him how you felt a bit too soon. It makes sense, with the quest looming over you and all. But choosing to give him space _now_ …that's admirable."

Jason stared at her in surprised. "Um…thanks?"

"We'll handle the camp's safety. I'm sure we'll get what we need—we'll enlist another god if we have to. I hear Hera wants really badly to get back at Eros, for some reason." The smirk she directed at Jason was a knowing one. "You go and take care of him."

"He won't even talk to me."

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course he will."

Jason raised an eyebrow at her, but she shooed him away before he could ask anything.

* * *

Will was just leaving Cabin Thirteen when Jason reached it. He looked more worn out than a few minutes ago, but he had a faint smile when he saw Jason.

"He let you in?" Jason asked.

"Sort of. He locked himself in the bathroom." He grimaced and shrugged. "Still, I think it went okay, all things considered. Maybe someday he'll even forgive me."

"I'm sure he will. You were his friend before you were his boyfriend. You can go back to that."

"I hope you're right. I do miss him. Not our relationship, but—everything else."

Jason nodded. "I can imagine the feeling."

He glanced towards the cabin, and Will caught it. "He said if I found you outside, I should tell you to come in. I think he's spent a bit of energy yelling at me through the door. Whatever he's angry at you for, it's not as bad, I guess."

Jason wasn't so sure about that anymore, but he nodded anyway. "Thanks." Before he could hesitate any further, he walked inside the cabin, closing the door behind him. He ignored the mess inside, and headed straight for the bathroom door.

He knocked, just to let Nico know he was there, then sat down with his back against the door. "It's Jason," he said. "I—I asked Chiron to go to the Hecate kids about liquid Mist."

"Of course you did." Nico's voice came from close—maybe he was sitting against the door on the other side, just like Jason was. "Jason Grace, perfect human. Who better to clean up after my fuck-up on the quest?"

"You didn't fuck up," Jason said. "I did." He sighed. "I'm just feeling so many things all at once, and—"

"You don't have to let me down gently, you know. You can just say you didn't mean it."

"That's not it. I did mean it, I just—" Gods, this was hard to put in words. "It's like everything I felt, both before and after I took the gorgon blood, suddenly made sense. Like a "eureka" moment, you know? I just had to say something. I didn't consider how you'd feel about it, between your break-up and the prophecy, and—" He paused, debating whether he should bring up his most recent discovery. Will had said something about honesty too, though, and Jason guessed it was a pretty good stance, even if he and Nico weren't dating. "Will told me about your crush on me. I had no idea. If I had—I don't know what I would have done differently."

There was a muted sound—a snort, perhaps. "How could you _not know_?"

"Well, I was being pretty blind to my own emotions." Maybe Juno was also blinding him to other people's, too, or maybe that one was entirely on him. "But I swear I had no idea. I wasn't saying that just to make you feel better, or because of the quest, or to mock you. I just—I'm in love with you, Nico. In a way, I have been for a while now—I just had no idea about it." He paused, then decided to add his decision—the one he'd taken when talking to Rachel and Chiron. "I know it's too soon for you. I know you need time—to move on from Will, to see if your crush on me is serious or if it's just something you indulged in because it couldn't lead anywhere. Hades, I probably need time to figure myself out, too. I just want you to know I'll give that time to you."

A soft click caught Jason's attention, just before the door fell open behind him—making him almost lose his balance. Nico stood in the opening, staring down at Jason.

In his hand, he held a transparent flask. Swirling inside was a grey liquid, loaded with enough magic for Jason to sense from afar.


	5. Act Five

"It just showed up," Nico said, holding the flask out to Jason. "With a note."

Jason stood up and examined it, finding paper sticking to it. _Congratulations_ , it read. _Was it so hard? - Eros_

"A reward?" Jason guessed.

Nico didn't answer. "I—I know you were being serious," he replied instead. "I mean, I panicked last night, but after I came back here, I've had time to think. I _know_ you, I—I know you wouldn't do that. To me or anyone else." He sighed. "But how do you know it's not Eros manipulating you? You know he can do that, right? The magic arrows and whatnot—you even said he had plans for a political union. I don't—I don't want this if it's just the gods' manipulation. I don't want to be their pawn."

"You know, I'm pretty sure the arrows are a metaphor. I've met Eros twice now, and he didn't have a bow either time."

Nico snorted. "You know what I mean."

"I do. But it doesn't change what I said. It's just one more thing for us to figure out—and I'll give us the time to do so. If you're okay with that."

"What if I can't? Figure it out?"

"If—if you feel like you know for sure, then so be it. I won't force myself on you."

Tension drained out of Nico's shoulders as he sighed. "Thanks. For understanding."

"I'm still _me_ , right?" Jason teased.

"Maybe that's the problem," Nico said, wistful. "I should go tell Chiron he can stop looking for alternatives to save the camp."

"I can come with you, if you want. Or I can take this to Chiron myself, if you don't want to deal with—questions."

Nico smiled at him weakly, but he shook his head. "Thanks, but—it's okay. I shouldn't let myself stay holed up in here again. It was bad enough the _first_ time. And—" He paused, shifting on his feet uncomfortably. "I think we could use some distance. For a while. So it's probably best if you don't come with me."

His words made sense, but they still felt like a personal attack to Jason, leaving him breathless as Nico walked past him and out of the cabin.

* * *

He gave Nico the wide berth he'd asked for for the rest of the day, caving in and going to Piper instead.

"You did the right thing," she said. "I mean—of course you did. You're _you_."

Jason let out a bitter noise. "Everyone says that, but it didn't feel particularly good anyway."

"Jason, you're just experiencing heartache for the first time. It sucks for everyone. Look at the bright side: at least you didn't get a hard rejection."

"Not helping."

"I think you need some time away from all of this. Eros has declared your quest successful, right? Go away for a while, long enough to know that he isn't meddling anymore. If you still feel the same way then, you can tell Nico about it."

"But I—" He stopped himself, realizing he'd sound childish if he said he didn't _want_ to go away from Nico. It felt too much like giving up; and yet, maybe Piper had a point. "What if Eros doesn't stop meddling? He clearly had an interest in my love life beyond the quest."

Piper narrowed her eyes at him for a moment. "You need protection."

"Piper, I'm in the exact situation where I _don't_ need condoms." He blushed when he caught Piper's amused look, and realized he'd misunderstood. "Okay, never mind that. What kind of protection did you mean?"

"Against godly manipulation, of course. Which means we're going back to New Rome."

Jason felt the need to protest or ask questions, but he gave up when he noticed the mysterious air on her face. "You won't tell me what you have in mind, do you?"

"I wouldn't dare give you false hopes," she retorted, with a sly grin. "Give me a few minutes to pack."

* * *

Jason was still in no condition to ride a pegasus back to New Rome, but Piper managed to get Percy's permission to borrow Mrs O'Leary instead. The shadow-travel and its familiar sensations only served as a reminder of how Nico had transported them the day before, and Jason emerged from the shadows feeling even worse about himself. Piper didn't give him time to mope, though: she grabbed his forearm and led him to his own apartment.

"I'm—honestly not sure it's a good idea to go back there," Jason admitted. How many more memories would there be in there? Not that many, if he was honest with himself; they'd only been in the apartment for one evening.

"Look, we're gonna need a place to stay. Don't be a big baby about it." She dragged him inside the building, and only paused in front of Jason's apartment door. "I know it hurts. I mean, literally, I can sense it on you. I guess your heartbreak is intensified like everything else since you took the gorgon blood. But you're gonna make it through, all right? We'll make sure of it."

"'We'?" Jason asked, but Piper just pushed the door open.

"How much longer were you gonna keep me out of this?"

Dazed with surprise, Jason walked inside to find Leo waiting here—alone. "What're you—"

"I called him," Piper said.

"The question is: why did you wait all this time? I thought I was going insane, with my memories going haywire all of a sudden."

Jason rubbed his temples, feeling a headache rising—from the lack of sleep, the sudden whirlwind of events, or maybe both. "It was a little complicated for me too."

"I gathered. Piper wouldn't tell me what was going on, she said it was your business to tell me, but she was worried."

Jason glanced at Piper, smiling gratefully at her. He had never doubted that he'd tell Leo about the recent development, but he still appreciated that Piper gave him the choice. "Turns out Juno kept a pretty big part of my memories hidden. I'm gay, Leo."

"No way! You serious, man?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Absolutely serious."

Leo shrugged, and smirked. "Well, more ladies for Team Leo, right?"

Jason stared at him. "Don't you have a girlfriend?"

"Details," Leo retorted, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, thanks for telling me, still love ya, all that stuff. And if you decide to join Team Leo, I'll be flattered."

Leo pulled him into a hug, and Jason couldn't help but chuckle. "Aren't you supposed to go 'no homo', or something?"

"Eh, you never know what may happen, right?"

Jason pulled away, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Anyway. Piper and I are done—"

"It was a mutual thing," Piper insisted.

"Right," Jason continued. "And then I went on a quest with Nico and realized I'm in love with him. Probably for a long time, and I just couldn't realize it because of Juno."

"And you're not macking on him because—"

"Because he thinks Eros made me fall in love with him."

Leo shrugged. "Okay. And coming here will help how?"

"That's my job to handle," Piper said. "You're here to bro it up and keep Jason's mind off things."

A wide grin broke on Leo's face. "Say no more. I'm in."

"Good. I'll head out to meet Hazel. You guys stay here."

"I'll just—get some sleep," Jason said. "No offense, Leo—I'm happy to see you, but I've just been through a sleepless night, and a few hours of sleep on a train didn't cut it."

"Sure thing. I'll get everything ready in here for when you wake up."

* * *

To his own surprise, Jason fell asleep as soon as he was in bed. The issue was with waking up, because that came with remembering Nico's look before he'd walked away, his voice when Jason had confessed to him, and all the other reasons Jason was _here_ and _alone_ and not with him.

He felt he was about to cry when the bedroom door burst open. "I heard you were awake, Jason, my man."

It was Leo; Jason sat up and stared at him doubtfully. "You 'heard'," he said.

"Okay, I may have monitored your breathing from the other room to know when you were up. But seriously, aren't you glad I didn't let you to stay here alone?"

A protest came to Jason's lips reflexively, but he pushed it down, and managed to smile at Leo. "I am. I should take my own advice about wallowing in angst."

"That's the attitude," Leo said. "Come on, I got you all the comfort foods."

"All of them?"

" _All_ of them," Leo repeated with a grin. Knowing him, Jason was inclined to take it literally. "I borrowed Piper's cornucopia."

Jason got up, groaning against the feeling of _tiredness_ he still felt, but he followed Leo to the living room. Leo had conjured up quite the feast, but before Jason could look at it more closely, Leo shoved a controller in his hands, grabbed another one for himself, and pushed Jason into a couch.

* * *

They were still hard at work shooting other players in online play when Piper came back to the apartment, long after sundown.

"There you go! One love charm, courtesy of yours truly and our favorite witch." She settled down on the couch beside Jason, making it a bit cramped for the three of them, but Jason didn't mind the proximity. "I took the liberty of making it match your style."

Jason glanced at the pendant she held in her hands: a stylized, blue lightning bolt embedded in a glossy black setting, hanging on a simple, discreet black cord. "Thanks. Um—what is it?"

"Your protection. It'll make sure no god can interfere with your romantic feelings. Even Hazel couldn't block out all godly powers, but for something specific like that, and with my help as a daughter of Aphrodite, we made it work."

Jason took it without hesitation, and put it around his neck. "How do you know it'll work if Eros already messed with me, though?"

"Well, it's not like gods can make such a change in a _permanent_ way. He'd have to keep putting some of his powers into you to keep it up. Give it until morning; if you feel different, it was probably Eros's work. If not—well, you can wait for a while longer to be sure, but you're probably good to go."

Which option would be preferable? If it was Eros's work, he would stop hurting the way he did now. But if it was, he'd lose Nico as a friend, too. He doubted Nico could ever see him the same way after what had happened.

Either way, he needed to know the truth. Just like he had when he had drunk the gorgon blood. "Thanks, Piper."

"Thank me by giving me your controller. You're sucking anyway."

* * *

Morning greeted him with the familiar ache in his chest. Jason had expected it to dull after a while, but no—being away from Nico, unsure that Nico could accept his feelings, still hurt just as much.

According to Piper, that meant he really was in love with Nico. Jason wasn't sure that was a victory. Still, feeling like he _knew_ —or was closer to knowing—got him out of bed, which he guessed was a start.

"Well, what's the verdict?" Piper greeted him with.

"I'm still feeling terrible," Jason said. "So either your charm isn't working or Eros had nothing to do with it. Or we need a while more to be sure. And I'm sure you already know all of that."

She shrugged. "Just checking that you haven't lost touch with your own feelings."

Jason scoffed, and walked past her to prepare breakfast. Leo's junk food feast was appreciated, but at some point they'd need proper food, too.

* * *

They settled into a rhythm over the next few days, as if they'd just gone on a vacation together. Sometimes—when they were cooking together under Jason's direction, or walking to a café down the street where most students of New Rome University hung out—Jason would even forget why they'd come here, even if it only lasted a moment.

Every morning he still woke up feeling like crying, but with every day it felt more like a blessing. A reassurance that he hadn't thrown off Juno's control to end up another god's pawn; that his feelings were genuine. Even if Nico decided he didn't want Jason after all, it was still something. He could say he'd been in love, at least once in his life. The prospect of rejection was still scary, but he could make it through that too, with his friends to help.

So when someone knocked at the door one evening, and Piper went to get it, only to come back and drag Leo away, saying they'd 'give them space', seeing Nico walk inside the apartment brought a mess of contradictory emotions within Jason.

"Hey," Nico said, standing awkwardly in the living room. "I—Piper called me."

"Of course she did," Jason couldn't help but say. He noticed Nico flinch, and chided himself for running his mouth. "I—I'm happy to see you. I just had no idea you were coming."

"Sorry. I knew I should have called."

Jason shook his head. "Not your fault. Do you—do you want to sit?"

Nico stared at him for a moment longer, then remained standing next to Jason's couch. "Piper told me about the charm she made for you." Jason nodded silently, waiting for the obvious question. "Do you—do you feel any differently?"

"I don't." Then, he chuckled. "Well, not in the way you're expecting. It was the first time I felt anything so strong, but after the past few days, I think I've learned to deal with it better. So in that way, I feel differently. But—I'm still in love with you, Nico." If he'd had any doubt on the matter, the way his heart had been pounding since Nico had walked in was all the proof he needed. "And I'll still give you all the time you need."

"Yeah, that's—that's why I came. I—it was stupid of me to expect to ever figure it all out, wasn't it?"

Jason couldn't help but stand up, feeling a flash of dread at Nico's words. "You're giving up?"

"I mean, in the end, what I wanted to _figure out_ was whether our relationship wouldn't fail. Because it was started by a god, or because you were too new to everything you felt—I don't know what else could have gone wrong. But—it's ridiculous, isn't it? When you start a relationship, you can't know that it _won't_ fail."

Eros's words came unbidden in Jason's mind. "It's a leap of faith," he said, more to himself than to Nico.

Nico didn't seem to notice. "Yeah, I guess that's one way to say it." He sighed. "My point is—I know you won't hurt me on purpose, and I know how you feel, and I know how _I_ feel, so—maybe we just need to give it a shot?" He finally met Jason's gaze, hesitant. "If you're still up for it, I mean."

Jason stared at him, frozen in shock, incapable of convincing himself that Nico had just said that. "I—" Words failed him, so he just leaned forward, tentatively; when Nico didn't step back, he closed the distance between them, pressing his lips to Nico's, lingering only long enough to take in the way his heart _sang_ at the contact. "Of course I am," he said, smiling at Nico.

"Good," Nico said. "I mean—" He chuckled. "Gods, this is awkward. I—"

Without warning, he grabbed Jason and pulled him forward, kissing Jason earnestly, hungrily, with none of the restraint Jason had shown. Jason followed his lead, melting into the kiss, opening himself to Nico's prodding, returning every bit of what Nico gave him.

When Nico pulled away, there was a smirk on his face. "I know you're inexperienced, so… _this_ is how you kiss when you mean it."

Jason let out a chuckle. "I'll learn anything you'll teach me."


End file.
